This invention relates generally to a multifunctional printing system and more particularly to an auditron for the multifunctional printing system in which the auditron is programmable to operate in one of a plurality of modes.
Electronic reprographic machines or electronic printing systems may possess a wide range of system functions, including binding, scanning, stapling, stitching, shrink wrapping, etc. A print shop may use an electronic reprographic machine with robust functionality to meet the needs of customers who seek copies of xe2x80x9cshort runxe2x80x9d jobs. Even though short run jobs may not require the setting of a master, they still may utilize a large range of functions and materials (e.g. paper and toner). Maintaining records of those functions employed and materials used is a simple matter for electronic reprographic machines with digital capability and mass memory, e.g. a disk storage device.
In one example, a record of the materials used for each short run job (hereinafter referred to simply as xe2x80x9cjobxe2x80x9d) is maintained in a dedicated account for a customer. In one conventional approach, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,258 to Iwata (Issued: May 26, 1992), each customer is mapped to a given paper type set with a plurality of paper types. Additionally, each paper type in the set is provided with a fixed rate. As the job for a given customer is executed, the number of sheets used for each paper type is counted and the number of sheets used for each paper type is tabulated. The tabulated sums are then multiplied with their respective rates so that a billable amount for the paper types used can be determined. The billable amounts are then summed to provide a total cost for paper used.
The approach of Iwata appears to be inefficient, with respect to memory usage because, as shown in FIG. 10 of Iwata, the set of paper types is set uniformly for each customer. It will be appreciated that the needs of the customers changes over time and the demand of even a single customer may vary over time. This apparent problem of setting uniform account size for each customer appears to be solved by U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,344 to Bennett (Issued: Sep. 8, 1992) in which a machine administrator can create a new account and specify a subset of system functions, from a set of system functions, to be used in the new account. In particular, it is believed that the set of system functions is xe2x80x9chard-codedxe2x80x9d into the associated electronic reprographic machine in the form of a predesignated set of billing meters and the system administrator can specify which of the billing meters in the hard-coded set are to be used in setting up the new account.
A network based accounting system which is believed to be more flexible than the approach of the Bennett et al. Patent is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,845 to Krist et al. (Issued: Aug. 19, 1997). In the Krist Patent an account log manager, communicating with a network receives multiple sets of accounting related information from multiple document processing facilities. The first and second information sets are associated with one another through use of a common identifier. By reference to the common identifier, the account log manager stores the first and second sets of information in an account log file in such a way that the first and second information sets appear as a virtually integrated unit to a user. In practice, the virtually integrated unit can be downloaded from the account log file for calculating a bill based on the first and second information sets.
Both of the Bennett and Krist Patents contemplate an arrangement in which accounting is required for each job processed by a user. Considering that both the Bennett and Krist arrangements are used with xe2x80x9chigh-endxe2x80x9d printing systems in which relatively large and expensive jobs are processed, imposing an accounting requirement seems reasonable. Imposing the same requirement for a xe2x80x9clow or mid volumexe2x80x9d multifunctional printing (xe2x80x9cmfpxe2x80x9d) system may, however, not be as reasonable under all circumstances. For instance, requiring a user to account for the processing of a small copy job with an inexpensive feature set may not be cost beneficial. There are, nonetheless, circumstances where the owner of a low or midvolume mfp should probably require accounting. One such instance may occur in a law firm where accounting is necessary for the sake of billing clients. It would thus be desirable to provide an auditron system which is particularly suited for a mfp system in which accounting can be selectively employed.
In accordance with the presently disclosed invention there is provided an auditron system for a multifunctional printing system including a printing machine for producing prints from an electronic document stored therewith. The printing machine includes a plurality of document processing services with each of the plurality of document processing services causing one or more document processing operations to be performed relative to the electronic document. The auditron system, which controls a manner in which an accounting of information is performed with respect to one of the plurality of document processing services, comprises: a user interface; a programmable auditron subsystem communicating with said user interface and printing machine, said auditron subsystem being responsive to input at said user interface with the input causing the auditron subsystem to be disposed in one of a plurality of modes relative to the one of the plurality of document processing services; and wherein when said programmable auditron subsystem is disposed in a first one of the plurality of modes, an accounting of each document processing operation performed relative to the one of the plurality of document processing services is maintained on a mandatory basis, and when said programmable auditron subsystem is disposed in a second one of the plurality of modes, accounting of each document processing operation performed relative to the one of the plurality of document processing services is maintained selectively in accordance with user demand.